Menendez denies liaison with Dominican Republic prostitutes

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is denying any allegations of wrongdoing after FBI agents raided the business of a Florida doctor close to him.

FBI agents searched the office of Dr. Salomon Melgen on Tuesday night, according to a report from the Miami Herald. Melgen runs the Vitreo-Retinal Consultants Eye Center in West Palm Beach and is a big donor to Menendez and other Democratic lawmakers, Federal Election Commission records show.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Melgen has been tied to several trips to the Dominican Republic by Menendez over the last several years. Melgen owns a private jet and flew Menendez to the Caribbean island on multiple occasions, according to campaign disclosure reports.

“Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years,” Menendez’s office said in a statement. “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false.”

In November, the Daily Caller, a conservative publication, reported that Menendez allegedly had sex with prostitutes while staying with Melgen at an exclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.

Last week, the Caller reported that the FBI was looking into whether the prostitutes were underage. Under U.S. law, it is illegal for any American citizen to have “commercial sex” with anyone who is under 18 years old.

Menendez strongly denied the initial report by the Daily Caller two months ago, but the FBI’s involvement in the case has dramatically raised both the legal and political stakes for Menendez, who just assumed the gavel at the Foreign Relations Committee with the departure of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to be secretary of state.

Documents have been circulated to reporters showing that an FBI agent in Miami contacted a go-between in the Dominican Republic to look into the claims of wrongdoing by Menendez.

Even if Menendez or Melgen are never charged with any kind of criminal wrongdoing, the case could still end up before the Senate Ethics Committee, which has a much wider ability to look into behavior by senators and staff.

The Herald also noted that Melgen has a $11.1 million tax lien covering 2006-2009 from the IRS.